The 4 Types of People in Every Church
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Every Sunday, in churches all around the world, there are four types of people that will walk into the building. Even if they don’t walk into the building these same four people are watching online. Jesus told us about these people in Matthew 13.
These four people will show up in your church this weekend. If you are serving in the church or you are a leader in the church, then here are a few suggestions to help address this issue.
Keep preaching the word – The problem is not the word, so make sure you keep preaching and teaching the word.
Make room for the presence of God – There are two transforming agents in the lives of people and they both work together. They are the Word of God and the Spirit of God. It doesn’t matter how good the messages are – if the Holy Spirit is not present to take whatever truth is taught and bring it to life, then the people are susceptible to being robbed, distracted or remaining shallow. Be sure to invite the presence of God into the service so he can do the transforming work that flows in cooperation with the word of God.
Allow time for people to digest the word – We went out to eat recently with another couple from our church. After we were finished, we were sitting at the table talking and just enjoying each other’s company. While we were sitting there talking, at least four to five different people from the wait staff asked us if we were done yet. Though they never uttered the words clearly, they were trying to get us to rush out of those seats because it was a Friday and they wanted to get more people in.
Too often this is how we treat church, especially if there are multiple services. We don’t give people time to digest what was preached because we have to move everybody out so we can get the next group in. The time to sit and reflect on what was preached or to just pray and wait in God’s presence gets sacrificed, because we need those seats. I am not saying don’t have multiple services, but make sure you allow people time to wait in God’s presence so the word that was planted can at least settle in their hearts. When we do this, we create an atmosphere that marries the word of God and the Spirit of God and creates an environment for people to be able to hear the word, receive it, understand it, apply it and ultimately bear fruit from it.
Whether you recognize it or not these four people will be in the building or watching online. Let’s make sure to create an atmosphere that gives people not only the ability to hear the word, but allows the possibility of the word taking root. It is only then that these people will grow in their walk with Jesus.
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Photo credit: Unsplash/krispaparo
